I'm about ready to take the e-reader plunge and have determined that a Kindle will work best as my primary reading gadget. I realize that means I can't read ebooks purchased from Barnes & Noble or other outlets with proprietary DRM. My questions concern ebooks without DRM.

1. If I have a Kindle and purchase ebooks without DRM, would I also be able to read those same books through a Nook (or some other) app, perhaps on an iThing or on my PC? Not sure that would ever be an issue, but the iPod Touch is awfully tempting.

2. My niece has a Nook e-reader and I've recently discovered that we like some of the same types of books. If I have ebooks that are DRM-free, which would almost certainly be purchased from a source other than B&N, can I "loan" those books to her if I've got the Nook app somewhere, or is loaning strictly a Nook-to-Nook deal and/or only for ebooks purchased from B&N?

1. You can actually read non-DRM PDFs on your Kindle. If they're ePUB, then you may be able to read them on the NOOK app (not sure), but you can definitely read them on several other generic eReading apps like Bluefire (for iOS) or Calibre or Adobe Digital Editions (Mac or PC).

2. I'm almost positive NOOK book loans are restricted to NOOKBooks, i.e. NOOK eBooks purchased from B&N. After all, that's the perk.

I have a NOOK Color, and while I'm very happy with it, it must said in all fairness that there is very, very little that B&N has that Amazon doesn't. In Canada, there is only one big reason for not buying a Kindle and that is the lack of library borrowing. But if you're in the States, that reason doesn't exist.

Hi melann, if you purchase DRM free books you can do pretty much anything with them and convert them to any format you choose and share them with who you choose.

If an ebook of any type is DRM free you can convert it to any format using a wonderful and FREE program called Calibre. It's very easy to use.

Say you buy a DRM free ebook in .mobi format (which is what the Kindle reads) you can take it and make it into an .epub file (which is read on the Nook) so you can share it with any Nook owners. You can take any format including .pdf, .epub, .mobi and change them to any other one. There are more options as well but I forget them all.

You would have to do this through your computer but it's very easy to get a book onto a Kindle or a Nook via the cord that comes with each ereader.

If you have any questions be sure to post as many people here use Calibre to organize and convert books!

ChrisReader, I've heard of Calibre elsewhere and it's definitely on my must-have list before I amass a large ebook collection. I figure that's a job best tackled early on. If ebooks turn out to be like paper books for me, I'll have an overwhelming collection in record time (with me looking around in bewilderment, trying to figure out how that happened).

I'd rather get a workable process on the front end rather than try to sort it out later.

Just remember before sharing that fear of uncontrolled sharing is probably one of the main reasons publishers persist in DRM. Digital copies aren't like printed books, because you can still read your copy while someone else reads a copy you passed along. Most ebook sales are actually worded more as licenses to use rather than outright sales.
As for being organized, I strongly agree. I keep a spreadsheet of all ebooks I buy or find for (legal) free download.
These are the columns in my ebook spreadsheet:
Genre, Author, Title, Publisher, Subgenre, cYear, Source, DateDown, Price, Download, Load, PagesL, ReadTime?, $/pg, Read
I might change the spreadsheet slightly if I was starting from scratch now, but with the thousands of lines already entered I am unlikely to change it. (I have almost 4,000 ebooks acquired since I started in 2006.)
The ReadTime column is an estimated reading time based on the page count, since I prefer to finish first reads the same day I start them and this lets me pick books short enough for the time available.

As for being organized, I strongly agree. I keep a spreadsheet of all ebooks I buy or find for (legal) free download.
These are the columns in my ebook spreadsheet:
Genre, Author, Title, Publisher, Subgenre, cYear, Source, DateDown, Price, Download, Load, PagesL, ReadTime?, $/pg, Read
I might change the spreadsheet slightly if I was starting from scratch now, but with the thousands of lines already entered I am unlikely to change it. (I have almost 4,000 ebooks acquired since I started in 2006.)
The ReadTime column is an estimated reading time based on the page count, since I prefer to finish first reads the same day I start them and this lets me pick books short enough for the time available.

As always, I'm in awe of your spreadsheets, databases and general organization surrounding your reading (I mean that - no sarcasm!). I can do it at work but have never managed it at home. I've tried spreadsheets with my print books and always fall behind. I'm planning to try Calibre for my ebooks in hopes I'll be more diligent with that than with Excel.

On the other hand, I'm about to have to bite the bullet and convert my "library" room to a bedroom. After the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I plan to see this as yet another opportunity to catalog my books under the pretext of knowing where to find them after they're scattered throughout the house. My hopes are not high, but I refuse to admit defeat before I even start.

If you are planning to catalog an existing personal library, set up the project with reasonable goals. (A shelf a day, a couple shelf-feet a day, whatever you feel you can stick to until it's done.) I keep my lists up to date by making sure I always catalog new purchases immediately, but the first full cataloging of our (then much smaller) F&SF collection many years ago was done over an extended period. When I started buying romances a couple decades ago I had already developed the immediate cataloging habit.
Also think about what data you want in your catalog. Our main book lists are just title & author, with series order handled by title order in the list. My reading log since 1975 was just date, title & author. I started keeping a little more data in my log around 2000 to make my participation in the AAR annual poll easier, and have made minor changes to it since then. (My current reading log fields are Title, Reread?, Genre+Author, Date read, Sub-genre, Year Pub., Score, Series?, CopyEdits, and Publisher.) My ebook spreadsheet data was partly influenced by that expanded reading log and partly by wanting to keep track of purchases. I know other readers keep grades, character notes, and other data. Look at BYRON for possible ideas. Design your catalog based on the data you think you will want or need AND what you are sure you will be willing to maintain. Avoid an elaborate design that you will later abandon as too much work.